A donation of free plants and a couple of free trees from The Conservation Volunteers mean we’re now in a position to plant a hedge along two edges of the garden
There was a big tree giveaway in Lloyd Park on 31 January. Two of us managed to get down there and secure two free frees: a crab apple and hazel. This is in addition to a donation of 60 free hedging plants.
This means we’re now ready to plant a hedge along at least one edge of the garden and hopefully two. This will be the front of the garden, where it opens onto Mission Grove, in the first instance and any plants left over will go along the east-facing side which borders a car park. There are currently some hawthorns along this edge so we’ll intersperse the new plants between these.
The hedge, once it grows, will provide protection from noise and pollution, as well as prevent people using the garden for things they shouldn’t – like somewhere to sleep or to dump rubbish. This can’t come soon enough as a whole load of leaf litter has been dumped along the car park side, on top of the baby hawthorns. We’ll have to clear this before the hedge planting can begin.
This sort of thing is quite disheartening. We don’t know who is dumping the rubbish but this isn’t the first time. There’s only a few of us and we don’t have a lot of time to spend clearing up other people’s trash. There are surely official places for this sort of thing?
The hedge will act as a living barrier – preventing these sorts of unwanted incursions. Although at the moment the plants are all just bare roots so it’ll take some time for them to grow. Once they do, though, the hedging will be a great addition to the garden, providing colour throughout the year as well as shelter and food for wildlife.
Our hedge-planting session will be on 15 February. We’ll also be clearing away all the leaf rubbish and if there’s time doing a general tidying up of the space. Everyone is welcome, so if you’re looking for something to do that Saturday, do come along. We’ll be there from 10.30am to 1pm.
Before that, on 10 February, we’ll be having our monthly Transition Walthamstow meeting. So if gardening isn’t your thing but you’d still like to get involved, come along to that. It takes place at Ye Olde Rose & Crown, 7.30-9pm.
Hopefully see you there!
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